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Mustering In

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Mustering In

#1

Mustering In

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native now in Jax Fl.


>Fiqured I'd better show my face before the AWOL Squad comes about to haulk me in. Been hard ar it still. Can't even remember all I've done lately. The days have all blurred together and it's been all go go go at full blast. Must say that I've been rather enjoying it tho. Getting much done, and feel that I'm years ahead of the game. Every day has been like a Saturday which makes 22 Saturdays in a row.

The cement job got back- listed to a unpredetermined time. I started it, but realized that 1) in is inside work and can be done no matter the weather, and 2) it was a bigger job than a initally realized, and was going to eat up time that I could better utilize on other things that needed to be done.

I'd say for the most part I've finished up all I wanted too, and accomplised many other little jobs that popped up, such as digging out the little flower bed along the backside of the house that had become filled in. It was like that when we bought the place three years ago, and I never bothered to dig it out, however it had a bick border and I kept triping over the bricks so the other day when I tripped over them for the ga-zillionth time I grabbed up a shovel a dug it out. Same thing with the hedges that where between my neighbors house and mine. My dog got her chain wrapped up in them again, for the mega-millionth time and I said "That's it, they're outta here RIGH NOW!, and after two hours of sweating digging and chopping they where gone.

This morning I had need to used my out door water spigot, so I went to it and got into a fight with the chain-link fence that is beside it for the giga-ba-xillionth time and I said "That's it! I'm moving it closer to my shop door and away from this blooody bleep, bleep, bleep, bleep fence. Should be easy enough thought I. Dig up the pipe, put in an elbow, lay in 25 feet of pipe, put on an elbow reattch the spigot and bing-go bang-o, Bob's your Uncle, no more fights with the fence. Well, long story short, 10 hours later I finished up glued everything together, and it started to rain so I'll finish it tomorrow.

Got attacked by the ants again yesterday. U was working on the air conditioner wiring, and about 1000 of the ants which where crawling on the side of the house got onto my left shoulder, arm, and hand counted to three and they all bit me at once I swear. I am now covered with little white-head looking bumps from them, which blend it nicely with the ones all over my ankles and feet. I've been battling these ants for a few months now and I think I've found the solution. Seems where the air handler drain exits from my house is where the ants like to live due to the moisture, so I extended that drain another 15 feet down my back yard. Coarse. that was easier said than done as well.

Looks like noi bench making for me on this vacation, I have only a week left, and I'm sure I can find enough other things to do to fill the time. Ahhhhhhhhhhh well, no matter, cooler weather is coming anyhow, and I've managed to insulate my garage door, and get it all sealed up to almost light tight, so it should be nice and cozy in there when I finaly can get in some shoptime again.

I started vacation at 210 lbs, and tipped the scale this a.m. at 197. I better get back to work before I turn into a rail eh? ;~)

I have managed to find a few goodies at my Wednesday morning flea market, nothing special except for the old old 115lb anvil, forge blower, and nice hand crank grinder for $100 two weeks ago. I intend to post pics of the anvil sooner or later.

Todd O.

Re: Mustering In

#2

Re: Fire Ants

William Duffield, on the Cohansey


>Did I ever tell you how much I learned to dislike Florida in the two score years I lived there? :^) I think I might be able to help you with your fire ants.

First, to control them, you need Amdro. You have to go looking for the hills, and scatter about a cap full around every one of them. Not directly on top, that makes the ants suspicious, or they think the pellets are just trash they've thrown out. When searching for hills, you have to go a bit farther than the limits of your property. I used to treat the ant hills in the neighbors' lawns on both sides, because these ants are pretty mobile. Usually I did this when they weren't home (the neighbors, not the ants). Your neighbors should thank you for helping them with their problems, too. Don't let the dog eat it. Scattering it when the grass leaves are dry lets it work its way down among the rhizomes, where the ants will find it, carry it home and feed it to their queen, but keeps it out of the reach of the dog's tongue.

Yup, they all bite at once. Somehow, one of them makes the decision that there are enough ants deployed for an effective attack, chomps down, and releases a pheromone. When the other ants sense the pheromone, they all bite, and release more pheromone.

The ants' jaws are loaded with Staphylococcus aureus (staph) and several other nasty bacteria. In the long run, the infection they cause is a lot worse than the formic acid that causes the initial pain. To kill the bacteria, scratch the bites when they first occur (easy to do) and immediately apply Betadine or Hydrogen Peroxide. This should stop most of the infections from developing. Keep watching for pustules to develop, and reapply the antiseptic to any that do. Applying a hot compress to the infections also helps to kill the bacteria.

There are no fire ants in Maine. There are none in New Jersey, yet, but with the rate global warming is progressing, that may change soon.

Re: Mustering In

#3

Re: Fire Ants

George@Colonel's Workshop


>Good Afternoon William,

In Vietnam I sat on a stack of pallets which harbored fire ants, and their ferocious bites got quite personal, causing deep-seated resentment on my part and much mirth at the Army field hospital.

George

Re: Mustering In

#4

Amdro be damned!

Todd O. Cronkhite Maine Native now in Jax Fl.


>Dynamite, .50 cals and flamethrowers are going to be my next weapons of attacked. You think the war waged by Bill Murray against that gopher was something, well I'm hear to tell ya' that was nothing compared to what I have in mind if things keep on. Coarse, I'd need to destroy this entire State as I am throughly convined that it is nothing more than one giant ant hill.

I do however feel that dening them the moisture they where getting from the A/C drain line has done the trick tho.

Thanks for the info tho William, and trust you me Sir, I am more that WELL AWARE that there are no fire ants in Maine. The good news is that the ants that I'm fighting are not fire ants, but those little mini sand ants. Little Bass-tards.

T.O.

Re: Mustering In

#5

Re: Do it! Amdro's too slow!

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

Re: Mustering In

#6

Just do what we used to do

Bob Hackett


>Get one of the cannoncockers to "loan" you a powderbag.Sprinkle the contents of the bag on the anthill leaving just enough to trail off a safe(safe is a relative term when dealing with groundpounders)distance.

Touch off the powder trail and pile of powder on the hill.

When your vision returns and your eyebrows stop smoking move back up and inspect your new bit of artglass.

Now those ants truely know the meaning of fire.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Mustering In

#7

Sounds Toddly to me

Bill Houghton, foggy mornings in Sebastopol, CA


>kind of like pruning trees with a shotgun.

Had a boss one time who decided to get rid of his gophers by running acetylene into the tunnels and lighting it off. He never did things halfway, so he let the tank run for a while, and when he did toss the match in, he darn near blew his house off its foundation.

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